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HP Mini 1151NR Netbook Review

Reviews icon HP Mini 1151NR Netbook Review

HP Mini 1151NR Netbook Review

Verizon Wireless

Published on: 28 May, 2009 by PhoneArena Team

Software and Performance

The HP Mini 1151NR Netbook’s main function is getting you on-line. This is done primarily though Verizon’s VZAccess Manager program, which we updated from version 6 to version 7. When the program is launched, it lists all the available connections and their signal strength, which includes Verizon Wireless and any local Wi-Fi signals. We selected “Verizon Wireless” on the list, as it showed 3 out of 4 bars of EVDO Rev A, and we were on-line within six seconds. Normal web browsing in IE7 worked well, and complex sites, such as PhoneArena.com, only took 10 seconds to completely load.


Verizon VZAccess Manager

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We also ran a series of speed tests using three scenarios:

The internal HP un2400 Mobile Broadband card using Verizon’s EVDO Rev A.
Wi-Fi connected to the MiFi 2200 using Verizon’s EVDO Rev A.
Wi-Fi connected to our home WLAN using Comcast cable modem service.

The first test we downloaded a 99.5MB video driver file from the Nvidia web site. When using the internal Mobile Broadband card, the file downloaded in 10 minutes 5 seconds and with an average speed of 168KB/sec. Then when using the MiFi 2200, the download took 15 minutes 20 seconds with an average speed of 110KB/sec. And when using our home Wi-Fi connection, it took 2 minutes 5 seconds with a speed of 812KB/sec.


Downloading a 99.5MB video driver from the Nvidia web site

The second test measured the download and upload speed from Comcast Speedstest. The internal Mobile Broadband card achieved 1.6Mbps download and 0.4Mbps upload, while the MiFi 2200 speed was 1.3Mbps download and 0.4Mbps upload, and the home Wi-Fi connection speed was 18.5Mbps download and 7.9Mbps upload.


Comcast Speedtest

	Internal Mobile Broadband	MiFi 2200	Home Wi-Fi
99.5MB download	10 min 5 sec 168KB/s	15 min 20 sec 110KB/s	2 min 5 sec 812KB/sec
Comcast Speedtest	1.6Mbps down 0.4Mbps up	1.3Mbps down 4Mbps up	18.5Mbps down 7.9Mbps up

As expected, using a Wi-Fi connection, which is using home/office broadband, will have the fastest download and upload speeds. However, this is not always possible, and that is when the internal Mobile Broadband card and Verizon service come into use. For average web browsing and email, EVDO is fast enough, including the occasional file download, watching streaming videos from YouTube and Hulu, or using the webcam. But if you’re going to download a lot of files, such as the 250MB download we had to do using Windows Update, then Wi-Fi would be best, as its faster and does not deduct from your Verizon data plan.

Since the device uses Windows XP Home Edition, you can do pretty much anything on the HP Mini 1151NR Netbook that you could on a standard PC. Additional pre-loaded software includes: Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Microsoft Works, Sun Java, AIM, MigoMobile, Norton Internet Security, and Roxio BackOnTrack. We installed Microsoft Office 2000, FireFox, RealPlayer, and QuickTime player without any problems.


Some of the pre-loaded programs on the HP Mini 1151NR

We like the HP Mini 1151NR Netbook

The battery life is rated for up to 3 hours. We would average around 2 hours 30 minutes with solid Internet usage. An extended 6-cell battery is available that is rated to provide up to 5 ½ hours of usage.

Conclusion

We like the HP Mini 1151NR Netbook overall, as is it sleek and can do almost anything a standard PC can do. Having a built-in Verizon Mobil Broadband card is a nice feature, but you can’t swap it out for another carrier. The display is big enough for most web sites, but there is a lot of vertical scrolling with large pages. The only problem we came across was with the touch-pad acting up at times. We’d recommend the HP Mini 1151NR Netbook for the business professional who needs web access while on the go, without carrying around a large laptop or trying to view information on a Smartphone/PDA’s tiny screen.

Pros

Supports Verizon EVDO Rev A and global roaming
Compact size
10.1” Widescreen display
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
Loud speakers
Webcam
Windows XP

Cons

Touch pad issues
Only 1GB RAM and 80GB Hard Drive
No DVD/CD-ROM drive included
Power users will want the extended battery

PA rating

Overall 8.5

Excellent

8.5

out of 10

How do we rate?

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User comments

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1.

Kiltlifter @ 29 May, 2009 04:51:24 PM

Good and fair review... honoestly thought I think you scored it 0.5 higher... lol. But the 1gb of RAM issue can be fixed raelly easily. There is even a youtube video of a guy changing the RAM on a similar HP mini 1000 series in less than 30 seconds. 2gb of ram will only run you an extra 30-40 bucks, but totally worth it. As far as hard drive capacity goes though, I think it is a special sized drive for the mini's so your upgrading is lmited.

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2.

cphorn15 @ 03 June, 2009 12:33:16 PM

Well, when you think about it, with a computer of that size, do you really need anything bigger as far as hard drives are concerned? The whole point of having a netbook is surf the web, do some word processing, listen to music and maybe watch a movie. The processors themselves are stuck at 1.6 GHz so if you upgrade the system past 2 GB of RAM you aren't really going to notice a difference in speed. This computer is not meant to be a portable version of your main desktop. That's what laptops are for, especially the 17-inch ones.

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Kiltlifter @ 05 June, 2009 04:26:57 PM

but 17" is sooooo big and weighing at least 5lbs... they aren't that fun to carry. That's why I want the OQO. (www.oqo.com)

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